Joker (Earth-77)
'''Mark Baker', later and better known as The Joker is a deranged, criminally insane psychopath and murderer. who portraying himself as an agent of chaos, he is also an extreme and infamously formidable psychopath criminal from Gotham City. being at the very top of the city's criminal underworld, greatly feared by other crime bosses. Described as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy", he is potent in both mental combat and strategic planning, Devoid of empathy or pity for anybody taking part in his wicked schemes either by intimidation or fraud, and was particularly unkind to his former sidekick and ex-girlfriend Harley Quinn, such as manipulating her to amuse himself. He is also the long-time arch-nemesis of Batman. Personality Mark is a remorseless, unpredictable and utterly psychopathic criminal with a deep enjoyment of wanton and needless acts of violence and chaos, The Joker claims to not be insane, but rather "just ahead of the curve". This proves to be at least partially true, as The Joker is extremely calculating, cunning, and a competent strategist. Being able to plan out events and also improvise when needed shows a high level of intellect and knowledge. Baker also seemed to be knowledgeable in psychology and people's weaknesses and motivations. He had no problems getting underneath people's skin, and could easily manipulate people into corruption. In addition to this, he was also skilled at appealing to mentally unstable people (whom he used as free help and for sections of his plans that required expendable assets), manipulating them with promises that he would make their mental problems go away. For example, when he planted a bomb inside the stomach of one of his gang members, he told him he would "make the voices go away and replace them with bright lights, like Christmas" ('bright lights' being a metaphor for the bomb Mark buried in his goon's stomach). This extreme scenario of cruelty, sadism, and precision proves that this Baker is more in the realm of a psychopath/sociopath than insanity as he is neither delusional nor has he lost his grip on reality The Joker was nothing more or less than a personification of madness, delusional evil, mayhem, cynicism and anarchism. He viewed himself as not bad, good, or neutral, but rather a level higher than everyone else when it came to life. Mark believed that superficial and meaningless chaos and selfishness was basic human nature and tried to get everyone to agree with that theory. Baker was very egocentric in this area as he disliked people who resisted or fought his opinion. The Joker took pride in having reached that conclusion before everyone else and viewed morally strong people as naive, immature and foolish. The Joker was also not greedy and had no interest in money or even companionship. The Joker subscribes to a morally nihilistic mindset and is obsessed with the limits of morality, while also being described as having "zero empathy"; the two may come together to reflect The Joker's doubts about the depths of human morality, based on his belief that "When the chips are down; these civilized people, they'll eat each other". He is also masochistic and immune to pain and intimidation, demonstrated when Batman is throwing Mark around the room and attacking him, demanding the location of Jason Todd, he takes the assault with pleasure as, under multiple occasions, he laughed while being beaten by the Batman Mark is also unlike anything that Gotham had ever seen, as he was a psychopath who only wanted chaos for the sake of chaos. But depsite this Baker didn't see himself as crazy and when this was brought up to him by Commissioner Loeb he dismissed it, in fact the definition of sanity to The Joker was a "tiny little prison in your minds that stops you from seeing you're just tiny little cogs in a giant absurd machine" and then claims that he is not a cog and is free, showing that on some level Mark knew he was insane. Mark does not care for the people who work for him; when one of his minions got electrocuted in his attempt at removing Batman's mask, he proceeded to laugh hysterically and kick the minion. He then mocked him by making noises similar to that of someone being electrocuted, before spitting on him and resorting to his attempt at removing the mask himself. This, along with the crew member he buried a bomb in, shows that he has no problems inflicting pain upon people who work for him. Along with being extremely sadistic through psychological torture, physical pain, and intimidation, Baker also seems to have very little care for his own safety, such as when he was telling Batman to run him over with his Batcycle, and when Batman threw him off a skyscraper building to his supposed death and he did nothing but laugh (only for Batman to save him with his grapple gun), although both could have also been due to Baker believing that either Batman would not directly murder him or that he would still 'win' by provoking Batman into proving him right by forcing the Dark Knight to commit murder. Similarly, when Gambol attempts to have The Joker killed during a mob meeting, he revealed that he wired himself with explosives, having anticipated the possibility that he'd be gunned down during this meeting. During his interrogation at the hands of Batman, while taunting him about how the latter had "nothing" at his disposal to break him, he strongly implied that Batman's only option for dealing with him is to murder him. The Joker was really hard to place, as he knew what he was doing was evil by modern standards, but at the same time, he hoped that his behavior would become acceptable once everyone realized that anarchy was the only way to live. The Joker was also abnormally treacherous, uncaring, hypocritical, and above all, sadistic. He took immense joy in others being physically or psychologically wounded and even made dead-pan jokes on the occasions. The Joker was also utterly fearless and masochistic which robbed Batman of his pain inflicting and fear inducing tactics on his enemies. Those traits also make The Joker a good hand-to-hand opponent for the Caped Crusader despite him seemingly having no martial arts training as he frantically charged at Batman and ruthlessly wailed on him, something an opponent with a fear of getting hurt would never have his done. Cruel yet charismatic, The Joker left destruction wherever he went, he was quite egocentric and enjoyed his time in the spotlight where other criminals preferred to stay to the shadows he would actually televise his crimes to the entire city. One of his most noticeable traits was his disturbed sense of humour which was accompanied with a never-ending, manic giggling and outright laughter towards everything which fit right within Mark's own beliefs on what was funny. He was sadistic and found immense joy in the idea of pain and death towards others, He was masochistic, after being head-butted by Loeb he responded by laughing excessively. The Joker was intensely sadistic, laughing at the anarchy he created across Gotham and smiling with joy when Sionis was killed by Galavan, He enjoyed his own pain as well, making him suicidal as demonstrated while playing Russian Roulette, shot himself three times in a calm manner, He had no value of.human life as he shot Happy, one of his own minions, dead simply because he stole his line, and also proceeded to shoot a wounded police officer simply because he was groaning in pain from his injuries just as he was about to make his speech due to the cop having "no manners. Regarding his parentage, Mark absolutely hated his mother and father. Though he finally discovered that Arlene Hamill was his birth mother, Mark initially seemed to have a low opinion of her, claiming she was "pathetic" and a "creep". Even after learning that Arlene was his birth mother, Mark merely stated "I'll be damned" in an easygoing and nonchalant manner, only shortly afterwards realizing the humor in the revelation. Arlene was also somewhat unsympathetic and insensitive towards her son and admits she was a bad mother but loved him nevertheless and constantly gave him shelter and a home, even helping Mark cover up his patricide of his legal mother for that reason alone. Whilst meeting with his birth mother after breaking into her house, Mark mockingly called her "ma", "mommy", and "mom" all before killing her. His father was his first ever victim. He was stated to be cold, abusive, defamatory, and vituperative to his son, and highly promiscuous and alcohol. He also is shown to be very literal in his word usage, which allowed him to carry out his crimes and even betray his minions while at the same time technically keeping his word. The last trait is especially evident when he turned on the Mob after retrieving their money: When the Chechen angrily told him that The Joker was a man of his word when Mark revealed he planned to set the cash on fire, The Joker confirmed he indeed is that and made clear that he only intended to burn the half of the money he got from retrieving Lau. He's done it often enough that his trademark was claiming that he was "a man of his word." In addition, Baker was exceedingly cunning, manipulative through the use of fear, oblivious to his insanity and depravity, and flawlessly thorough in his plans. The Joker's only real setback was his blind ambition that everyone was as cruel deep down as he was on the surface which caused his final plan to backfire on him. Mark lacked any fear of being killed in his actions, as demonstrated by his trying to goad Batman into running him over as well as laughing when Batman threw him off the roof, which made him far more dangerous. Powers and Abilities Powers *'Unique Physiology:' Due to his chemical submergence, The Joker has gained beyond average advantages over normal humans as well as further exposure has tainted his physiology. **'Pain Resistance:' It is speculated that Mark Baker's exposure to chemicals may have heightened his resistance to pain. It is also implied that he is masochistic in nature, and thus enjoys any pain received, making it an ineffective way of dealing with him. **'Tainted Blood:' Mark's blood is tainted. It has been said that "being an avid consumer of his products, Baker's immunity to poisons has been built up over years of dedicated abuse." When a mosquito sucks The Joker's blood, it "writhes and whines, choking on tainted blood". **'Joker Venom Immunity:' The Joker is immune to his own venom as well as various similar toxins. **'Cheating Death:' The Joker has cheated death numerous times, even in seemingly inescapable and lethal situations. He has been, among other things, caught in explosions, electrocuted, shot repeatedly, and dropped from great heights, but he always returns to once again wreak havoc. **'Regeneration:' Mark's spine contains the chemical compound, Dionesium, within it. This allows Baker to recover from injures at an accelerated rate. He was able to regenerate his face after it was cut off, and instantly heal from a lethal gunshot. Abilities *'Indomitable Will:' Mark possesses an obliviousness to danger that makes him invulnerable to fear and intimidation, which are usually Batman's greatest weapons in combat. Hence, Baker does not fear death and will even threaten his own life to achieve his goal or make a point. This makes The Joker the Dark Knight's most formidable enemy. *'Genius Level Intellect:' The Joker is portrayed as highly intelligent and skilled in the fields of chemistry and engineering, as well an expert with explosives. From his first appearance onward, he has been consistently portrayed as capable of hijacking broadcasts - usually news programs - of both the television and radio varieties. **'Gadgetry:' Mark commits crimes with countless "comedic" weapons (such as razor-sharp playing cards, acid-spewing flowers, cyanide pies, and lethally electric joy buzzers) and Joker venom. **'Escapology' **'Tactical Analysis' *'Disguise' *'Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic):' Mark has moderate skill in hand to hand combat. Over the years it has been shown that although Batman is stronger, The Joker is faster and more agile, and his fighting style is chaotic and difficult to predict. Baker has been known to be able to hold his own in hand-to-hand combat against Batman, however every time he is subdued by Batman, it is through physical force. However, The Joker has proven to be very skilled in the area of martial arts as well, this being proven when beating the Batman once in a fight without "cheating". However, this skill in fighting can also be questioned, due to different artists having different reincarnations of Mark. In some cases, he is so weak, that Batman can take him down with a single punch, whilst in other cases, he has proven to be more than a match for the Dark Knight. *'Psychology:' The Joker understands human psychology very well. He predicts his enemies' next move and uses it against them. *'Singing:' Mark has a repertoire of songs he knows the whole way through, and can perform them word-perfect with no rehearsal, supporting the idea he was once an entertainer of some stripe. He seems to prefer songs he can croon to. *'Intimidation:' Mark, due to his capacity for heinous torture and murder, commands a very intimidating presence, enough to frighten low-level thugs and make them work for him out of the sheer fear of what he would do to them if they refused. This the one quality that Baker and Batman have in common to an extent. *'Pathological Fearlessness:' Mark possesses an obliviousness to danger that makes him invulnerable to fear and intimidation, which are usually Batman's greatest weapons in combat. Hence, Baker does not fear death and will even threaten his own life to achieve his goal or make a point. This makes The Joker the Caped Crusader's most formidable enemy. Weaknesses *'Mental Illness' Paraphernalia Equipment *'Smylex:' A deadly poison that infects his victims with a ghoulish rictus grin as they die while laughing uncontrollably. This venom comes in many forms, from gas to darts to liquid poison, and has been his primary calling card from his first appearance. *'Joker Teeth:' A common weapon and theme for equipment for Mark are "Joker Teeth." Clacking, wind-up gag teeth are commonly used to mock the Dark Knight and his allies. They are one of Baker's signature items. Transportation *'Jokermobile:' The Joker utilizes an Ferrari F12berlinetta is his personal stylized car. Weapons *'Various Joker Gadgets:' Razor-sharp playing cards, acid flower, various guns and other weaponry. The Joker is unpredictable in that he will use any kind of weapon afforded him. *'Joker's Joy Buzzer:' Mark often used a modified novelty joy buzzer strapped to the palm of his hand. The buzzer administered a lethal dose of electricity into anyone who came into contact with it. *'Explosives:' Baker is an expert at bomb making and has even bought nuclear weapons. He loves using time bombs and does use grenades in battle, though they may be disguised as harmless objects like toys, dolls, balls or marbles. Notes *this design belongs to Phil Cho on Deviantart. 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